Firing-chamber for powdered fuel.



Patented May14, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W. D. WOOD.

FIRING CHAMBER FOR POWDERED FUEL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23.1914.

FIRING CHAMBER FOR POWDJERED FUEL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23. 1914.

1,266,088. Patnted May14, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W. D. WOOD.

FIRING CHAMBER FOR POWDERED FUEL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23. 1914.

1,266,088. Patented May14,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

f /MA,

UNITED STATES P QFFTUE.

- WALTER ID. WOOD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNQR T0 FUEL SAVING-S COMEANY, OF

ALLEN'I'OWN, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

FIRING-CHAMBER FOB POWDEBED FUEL:

Specification of Letters Eat-ant.

Patented May 14, 1918.

Application filed March 28, 1914. Serial No. 826,642.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER D. WOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Port Richmond, Staten Island, in the borough of I Richmond, city and State of New York, have Thisinvention refers to a novel and improved fire box for locomotives and other engines. The object thereof is to produce a construction which will serve effectively for the successful burning of powdered fuel in an economical and practical manner. One of the important features of the invention is that the air pressure in the fire box shall be less than atmospheric pressure at all times, when starting up, when runnin at maximum capacity, and when operating at any capacity between maximum and The invention, therefore, consists in a furnace for a powdered-fuel burning system, from which the grates and ash pan are removed and replaced b an auxiliary chamber constructed in a particular way; and in various details, appurtenances, and useful features, including among them means for taking care of the slag and other foreign matter formed in the process of combustion; and it consists further in numerous details and peculiarities in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts, substantially as will be hereinafter described and then more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of my improved fire-box for locomotives and other furnaces.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same on the line a, a, of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line b, b of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section on the line 0, c, of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view with the internal arch removed.

Fig. 6' is a top plan view showing the arch and its staggered openings.

Fig. 7 is a detail view illustrating the mechanism for dumping the slag pan.

Similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout all the different figures of the drawings.

1 denotes the upper interior portion of the fire box below the boiler space 2. The walls of the fire box are double sheets, as indicated at 3, 3, and bolted together in the usual way by means of a multiplicity of stay bolts 4. The fire door is at 5. At the front of the fire box I have shown a portion of a group offire tubes 6, which are attached to the flue sheet 3 and which run through the water space and which receive the flame that heats the tubes and thereby heats the water. In the fire box 1 is an arch 7 which is inclined rearwardly and upwardly. It preferably consists, as shown in Fig. 4, of a number, say three, of supporting water tubes 8 which carry the bricks 9 that are seated upon the tubes, there being a space 10 left at the rear end of the arch near the rear head of the boiler, so that the flame underneath the arch will be deflected rearwardly and then upwardly through the opening 10 in the direction shown by the arrow and then over into the space above the arch 7 toward and into the front group of horizontal tubes 6. The opening 10 at the rear end of the arch is approximately fourteen inches wide, or large enough to allow a man to pass through it for the purpose of inspecting the fire tubes. The arch 7 is also provided with quite a number of openings 11, and these are preferably staggered so that the arch may take the form of a semi-open arch. These allow the flame from the fuel to course freely into the upper part of the fire box and meet the tubes 6.

The powdered fuel is introduced into the fire box through a nozzle 12 which delivers the incoming air and coal dust under the force of a light blast of air generated in some suitable manner by a fan or other means not shown, but which are fully described and claimed in my co-pending application for Letters Patent of even date herewith, Serial No. 826,641. The omission of the grate, ash pan and other details usually accompanying such parts, makes it possible to provide the fire box with a depressed auxiliary chamber 13 sheathed with fire bricks at 14, the sides 15 of which chamber slope inwardly toward the bottom 16 while the bottom itself inclines forwardl and downwardly. At some suitable point in the bottom, preferably near the front end, or

5 sert rows of removable brick 29.

wherever it may be best to locate it in order that the flow thereinto from the bottom 16 may take place with facility, I locate a slag pan 17 beneath an opening 18, said slag pan preferably containing water, which acts both as a seal to maintain the vacuum in the fire box when the engine or apparatus is in operation, and also to retain any slag or other foreign matter that may form in the process of combustion. Directly below the opening 18 is a discharge spout or nozzle 18 which extends downwardly into the slag pan 17 below the top edge thereof. The pivotal or hinged point 26 of the pan 27 is above the lower end of the spout 18 as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. By having the lower edge of the spout 18* projecting into the pan 17, it is possible by the use of water which forms a water seal, or in some other way, to make an air tight joint between the spout 18 and the pan 17, so that there will be no ingress or egress of air, except when the pan is being dumped. Furthermore, by having the pivotal point of the pan above the lower end of the spout 18*, said pivot is kept out of the way of the hot slag and other material, which if it came into contact with it, would stick thereto and stop its operation. With the discharge spout 18 however, projecting down into the pan ll and past the pivotal point 26, the s ag falls down into the pan and does not interfere with the hinge of the latter. This slag pan 17 is easily dumped at the will of the engineer or other attendant. In order to illustrate this, I have shown in the drawing a lever 19, pivoted at 20 on the cab flooring or platform 21, behind the firebox door 5, and in position to be conveniently manipulated. This lever 19 operates a link 22 which is pivoted to a bell crank lever 23, pivoted at 24 to a bracket 25 on the underside of the chamber 13. The slag pan 17 is hinged at 26 beneath chamber 13 and has at theopposite end a pin 27 received into a slot 28 in one arm of the bell crank lever 23. @bviously by shifting the lever 19, the pan 17 may be moved upon its pivot pin 26 and dumped whenever it is full of slag or other foreign matter. This dumping will take place occasionally so as to keep the pan free. Of course, I do not wish to be restricted to any special mechanism for moving the slag pan, but can substitute such levers Or other devices for those shown, as may be found best. The point I wish to emphasize is that theslag pan itself is an important feature of construction because it relieves the furnace of injurious accumulations of foreign matter, and thus keeps the surface of the fire box smooth and clean for the more successful combustion of the fuel. Alongside of the longitudinal walls of the box 1. and at the upper edges of the sloping sides 15 of the auxiliary chamber 13, I in- These aeacee serve to increase the area for ignition of the entering coal dust, protect the mud ring 40, finish the upper edges of the chamber 13 in a neat and useful way by carrying the brick lining of the fire box as far up as possible, and are easily removable to allow inspection of the stay bolts behind them.

The auxiliary chamber 13 of the fire box is properly shaped at 30 to allow the wheels 31 of the locomotive (see Fig. 2) to rOll beneath the chamber 13 and at a suitable distance therefrom, the said chamber being enabled by this indented construction to extend out over the wheels 31 for a proper distance, but it will be recognized that this peculiarity of shape in the construction of the auxiliary sheathed chamber 13 is a matter that may vary within pretty wide limits, and 1 do not Wish to be held strictly thereto in the manufacture. The only thing necessary about the construction is that it should afford adequate space below the fire box for the combustion process to be performed with as large an amount of powdered fuel as it is found proper to use, and that the chamber, therefore, may drop between the wheels as far as experience recommends and likewise may extend out over the wheels if preferred. The combustion of the fuel in the chamber 13 takes place instantaneously upon the delivery of the fuel into said chamber, the fuel bein ediately converted into a volume 0 flame by a process which practically amounts to the burning of a gas, thereby developing an intense heat, and the fuel thus flashed into such a large amount of flame fills the chamber 13 beneath the apertured arch 7, while some of it sweeps around and finds a curved channel through the passage 10 to the top of the arch 7, While substantial parts of this intensely hot material pass through the staggered openings 11, and are thereby able to reach the space above the arch 7.. Therefore, in this space above the arch, there is a large volume of burning gas or fuel which is delivered into the open ends of the tubes 6, to heat the tubes and the water surrounding them. It is to be noted that an air space 41 is left below the brick 29 to prevent the ring 40 from getting too hot and thus endangering the joints and causing leakage and possible explosion. Holes may be drilled at 42 in the supporting plate to allow free access of air to space ll.

it will thus be seen that there is an air space between the refractory lining of the depressed auxiliary chamber and the side sheets of the fire box where the latter come into contact with the mud-ring of said fire box, and this prevents the joint at this point from becoming overheated, said air space being open to the atmosphere so that ingress and egress of the cooling air from the outer atmosphere is permitted at all times.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a furnace, a firing chamber for burning fine fuel, consisting in the combination with a fire box having side walls, of a depressed auxiliary chamber having all its sides sloping downwardly and inwardly toward the bottom and the bottom itself sloping toward one end, said bottom being provided in the lower end with an. opening, through which the slag and other accumulations of the products of combustion may be removed, and said auxiliary chamber being provided with an opening in the wall thereof for the admission of the fuel to be burned, the entire sides and bottom of said auxiliary chamber being sheathed with a refractory material, and said combustion chamber and refractory material being shaped and arranged so as to leave an air space between the refractory material and the side walls of the fire box where they come into contact with the mud-ring of said fire box, so as to prevent the joint at that point from becoming heated, said air space being in communication with the atmosphere so as to allow ingress and egress of the cooling air.

2. In a furnace, a firing chamber partly inclosed by the boiler wall, in combination with a mud-ring and a depressed auxiliary chamber sheathed with fire brick, a longitudinal row of removable fire brick along the upper edges of the auxiliary chamber and beside the boiler wall for the purpose of carrying the fire box lining up as far as possible and permitting stay bolt inspection, there being an air space below the said row of fire brick and between it and the mudring, together with a perforated plate below 

